Editorial: Banning tainted trinkets

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

In the past two years the federal government stepped up efforts to eradicate the potential for lead poisoning from inexpensive children's jewelry, but officials say hundreds of thousands of contaminated trinkets remain on the market.

A story by The New York Times on Monday says Consumer Product Safety Commission inspectors have been collecting jewelry from importers and retailers and have estimated that 20 percent of the items posed a lead-poisoning hazard. Separate inspections by experts in at least three states found higher contamination levels. And of the 17.9 million items taken from the market since 2005, federal officials told the Times, 95 percent were made in China.

It is the latest entry on a seemingly endless list of tainted goods that have been imported to the United States from China. That list includes toys coated with lead-based paint, pet food and toothpaste contaminated with other chemicals, and defective auto tires.

Lead is used as a filler in cheap children's jewelry. Exposure to lead in paint used on toys can damage children's nervous systems and cognitive abilities. But children who suck on or swallow pieces or parts of jewelry containing lead absorb the lead more readily into their bloodstreams, where it can cause seizures, respiratory distress and death.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has the authority to recall lead-tainted jewelry from the market, and it increased its efforts in February 2005 by announcing that it would recall any children's jewelry found to be more than 0.06 percent lead by weight. But recalls aren't always effective. For example, of 746,621 tainted charms given out with a children's DVD last year, only 50,000 were returned after the recall.

Amazingly, there is no outright ban on using lead in children's jewelry. The commission is considering such a ban, which has garnered the support of health and environmental groups and has drawn staunch opposition from only one group: Chinese officials, who say a protective coating is enough to shield children from the lead, the Times reports.

But such a coating is not enough. There is no good reason for lead to be used in children's products, and its use should be banned.